Four-Week Moving Averages for Both Initial and Continued Claims Increase
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) reports that initial claims decreased, while continued claims and both four-week moving averages increased for the week ending April 2.
“We are pleased to see that initial claims numbers decreased for the week ending April 2, indicating the increases for initial claims over the last few weeks were seasonal,” said OESC Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt. “Those increases have expectedly led to the rise in both four-week moving averages. While we will closely monitor the numbers in the coming weeks, we are confident that Oklahoma’s economy is going to continue to be one of the strongest in the nation with continued pre-pandemic claims numbers and record low unemployment rates.”
Weekly Unemployment Numbers for Week Ending April 2
- For the file week ending April 2, the number of initial claims, unadjusted, totaled 2,712, a decrease of 234 from the previous week's level of 2,946.
- For the same file week, the less volatile initial claims’ four-week moving average was 2,445, an increase of 289 from the previous week's average of 2,156.
- The number of continued claims totaled 12,167, an increase of 246 from the previous week’s level of 11,921.
- Continued claims’ four-week moving average was 11,889, an increase of 40 from the previous week's average of 11,849.
Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for the week ending April 9 was 185,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) reports. The four-week moving average was 172,250, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. For the week ending April 2, the U.S. DOL reports the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1%, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.
The national weekly seasonally adjusted initial claims report is one of 10 components in the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators. To smooth out the volatility in the weekly initial claims data, a four-week moving average is used to assess trends.
